Israeli,
American indicted for gun running to Somalia
By Laura Rozen
Politico.com, June 28, 2010
A federal grand jury in Miami, Florida has indicted an Israeli
defense consultant and an American citizen of conspiring to
transfer hundreds of AK-47s to northern Somalia.
Chanoch Miller, an Israeli aeronautical engineer who previously
served as an executive with Israel’s Radom Aviation, was
indicted on June 17, 2010 on seven counts of conspiring to
export defense equipment to an embargoed nation, Somalia, money
laundering, providing false end user certificates, and related
charges.
His co-defendant’s name is redacted in the
indictment but is described as an American citizen.
Beginning in April, according to the indictment, Miller
conspired with his American co-defendant to find an air cargo
service to fly hundreds of AK-47s from Bosnia to the northern
Somalian city of Banderal, using false end user certificates of
Chad, in violation of U.S. arms export control laws. Somalia is
under a UN arms embargo. But the transport services source they
contacted turned out to be an informant for the U.S. Customs and
Immigrations Enforcement (ICE) agency, the indictment describes.
“On April 15, 2010, [redacted name of co-defendant] sent an
email to an Immigrations and Customs Enforcement confidential
informant (hereafter CI) and asked if CI had Antonov 12 or
similar line [aircraft] available for two charter flights from
Bosnia to Africa to lift 12 tons on each flight for two round
trips, landing in Africa “to unload mil equipments” and return
to Bosnia for a second trip,” the indictment reads.
“On April 21, 2010, [blacked out] sent an email to the CI and
advised the CI that the cargo would be Boxed AK-47s, 6 to 7.6
tons, and that the CI could choose to use AN26 or AN12 aircraft
from Tuzla Bosnia to Banderal, Northern Somalia and that payment
would be made by wire transfer or cash before departure.”
“On April 21, 2010, [blacked out] sent an email to the CI and
advised that he has enough cargo for 100 flights if the first
flight is successful.”
“On April 28, 2010, [blacked out] sent an email to the CI and
also sent a copy of the email to CHANOCH MILLER and advised that
CHANOCH MILLER, who was the buyer in Israel and who would sign
the contract and pay the CI, had accepted the price at least
verbally but was hoping to get the first flight done sooner.”
Miller arranged through the same confidential informant to
purchase 700 AK-47s, 200 in the U.S. and 500 in Panama, and fly
them to Somaliland earlier this month. On June 15, 2010, the
indictment states, Miller wired $116,000 from an Israeli bank to
a Broward County, Florida Wells Fargo branch to pay for the air
services including a $2,000 commission for his co-defendant, the
indictment said.
The case against Miller was brought by the United States
Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Wifredo Ferrer and
Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Walleisa.
Miller was arrested on June 18th, court documents show, and
was due to be arraigned today. The indictment of his
co-defendant is sealed, until his arrest or August 9, 2010,
whichever comes first.
In February, Somaliland local press cited
an Israeli foreign ministry official that Israel was considering
recognizing Somaliland as an independent country, but the
official has denied ever making such a statement and said the
local media had made it up.
"It's pure fabrication," Israeli foreign ministry spokesman
Yigal Palmor told POLITICO Monday. "A few months ago, someone
brought my attention to the fact that a pro-Somaliland website
quotes an interview I supposedly gave to the Israeli paper
Haaretz in which I supposedly said a few things. I never spoke
to Haaretz on any subject to do with Somalia or freedom of
Somaliland. It's pure fabrication. And you know what,
the funniest thing, after this is published, and circulated on
pro-Somaliland websites, pro-Somaliland activists are asking me
to be their friend on Facebook."
Somaliland, a former British colony, is strategically located
in the Gulf of Aden. The breakaway republic
held elections on Sunday which international observers
declared free and fair.
UPDATE: Identity of co-defendant
unsealed -- and he's got an interesting past.
Image courtesy of Drieakko
